Dirty Work: Volume 1

Siala: Part 1 - 5

It was night by the time we managed to hit the long straight highways of Region 15 again that now, somehow, weren't completely blocked up to the eyelids with traffic. Everyone glided along on their own paths to their own destinations, the speeders went past tooting their horns like the immature assholes that they are, and I sat there getting insulted by Rena constantly the entire time to round off a good journey.

     She had remained quiet for the first few hours, only interjecting in the general conversation once or twice on a point or two, which had meant that, although I was but transport, Siala and I rapidly stuck up a good correspondence. I soon learned that, just like the boss, she had a profound love of art. I decided that now would be the time to pick her brain and learn some more on the most mysterious of subjects.

'Is the art over on Androssios VI much more, well, appreciated, than on Celestria?' I asked

'Oh, massively,' she replied with enthusiasm, 'it's a part of the way of life. Most of the kings and queens we had ruling on all of the Androssios planets were great art lovers, and it's been a part of the culture as a result for many years. Some of our most well-established celebrities, even off-world, are artists.'

'Anybody I would know?'

'Perhaps. Have you heard of Therrasone?'

I shook my head. 'I'm afraid I can't say I have if I'm... bloody hell!'

A young hooligan in a small, zippy thing of a kar cut us up as a young girl with long hair stuck her head out the back window with a bottle in hand and yelled in her merriment.

'Absolute asshole of the nth degree,' I yelled. 'Some people have no respect for others.'

'You work in a strip club,' Rena remarked, 'and you say you respect people?'

'As a matter of fact, yes,' I replied, 'I do respect people. I respect those that work there and I even respect those that come in and pay their fees for the entertainment provided. Their particular choice in entertainment may not be to my taste, but if that's what they want then we will provide. We provide services, and they pay us for it. Simple as that.'

Rena raised an eyebrow at me and went quiet again. It wouldn't be long before the next remark came along, but I was glad of the silence for the meantime.

Siala simply smiled. Her smiling was starting to creep me out, if I must be honest. She smiled too much. 'She likes you really,' she said, to which Rena gave a loud 'harrumph' and crossed her arms, leaning back on Siala's neck and closing her eyes.

It was then that the thought crossed my mind that the two of them were lovers. I'd seen stranger things in my time and it certainly wasn't outside the realm of possibility. The way the two of them interacted together, perfectly comfortable with arguing or agreeing with each other in perfect company, seeing to trust one another completely, it would have all made perfect sense.

'I'd forgotten how bad drivers are on Celestria,' Siala remarked.

I nodded. 'Perfect catastrophe is what they are, perfect catastrophe.'

Rena opened one eye and said, 'However your driving is, of course, always perfect.'

Her sarcasm wasn't lost on me, and so I fired back in return with sarcasm of my own, 'oh, obviously. I haven't seen you throw up everywhere yet.'

She eyed me and closed her eye again, saying 'I wouldn't want to spoil the upholstery.'

Siala giggled to herself, and I tossed her a smile back. Her constant smiling might unnerve me, but her cute little giggles could melt me instantly.

The traffic was thinning out even more now, everyone heading home, and yet we still had several hours to go. The border for Region 16 wasn't too far away, perhaps ten minutes, and the junctions coming up were large and had blaring neon signs over the tops of them screaming 'last exits for 15 here!' or 'don't want to leave Region 15? The Whyvera-Area has you covered! This way!' or 'Blue-You Fizz-E! The great new taste!' It's amazing how you can tell you're about to leave a place when you notice that the tourism industry suddenly finds money out of its ass for massive billboards and advertisements.

The road started to rise, the neon linings of the highway flicking to a burnt orange for the duration of the elevation change. From the side, three black kars, RoyalLock model 8's to be exact, came out of the junction and onto the highway. Two models down from being able to afford wheels. I glanced in my mirror to check where they were behind me.

The three of them lined up behind, taking up all three lanes of the highway, a kind of blockade. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach.

'Siala,' I said casually, trying to still my heart rate which was slowly rising.

'Yes?' she asked.

'Nobody's, like, after you, are they?'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean, nobody wants you dead or anything, for any reason at all? Nobody in three black RoyalLocks that have just swarmed behind me, or anything like that?'

She looked out of the back window and a little gasp escaped her.

I know I'm a cynical person, and I don't want to sound like I've gotten so used to danger and the possibility of losing my life that I've become desensitised to it, but I must confess that a small sigh came out of me when she gasped. I reached down into the door pocket and handed her the gun that the boss had given me, the 58 Alpha, and the one he had told me to bring with me 'just in case'. 'I assume since you know the boss, that you know how to use one of these.'

Rena swivelled around, having apparently dosed off pretty quickly and deeply. She rubbed sand from her eyes with the back of a taloned hand. 'What's happening now?'

'Well,' I said calmly, editing all the settings in the kar for maximum control, 'I'm going to begin to drive very quickly and the three kars behind us are probably going to swarm us and shoot at us, and then Siala is going to shoot back, and then at the end of it all we're going to see if we can still breathe.'

Rena didn't have a reply to that, which is what I was hoping for.

Siala looked over the gun, checking the canister. 'Just like the old days, Rena. Just like the old days.'